I feel a sort of kinship with this man.

“Madoff Whistleblower Book: Claims He Uncovered State Street Fraud, Thought About Killing Madoff”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/25/madoff-whistleblower-book_n_476820.html

I don’t think my life or my family was threatened in the same way as Harry Markopolos. But the frustration he felt feels familiar. In 2005 and early in the “Bloc of Four” regime there was only one other person not in law enforcement who agreed with me that Richard Legree had definite plans to control the Coatesville PD. Most people thought I was nuts to think that someone whose live in son was a major drug dealer and who was once called "The biggest drug pusher in Chester County" could become, in effect, Chief of Police in Coatesville. But he was already the Chair of Area 14 of the Chester County Republican Party.

In 2005 when I told people that Chief Bellizzie was going to be fired and Legree was going to arrange to control the Coatesville Police Department, people said, “Jean Krack would never fire him.” I said, “What makes you think Jean Krack won’t be fired too”.

I believed that Legree might not be Chief but that he planned a new position called “Public Safety Officer controlling the PD, FD and possibly Codes office with Legree as the Public Safety Officer. I actually thought that Jean would go in January of 2006 just a few weeks after John Carnes. I already knew about somebody named “Walker” just not exactly who that particular “Walker” was. I think Harry Walker was not ready in January.

When Matthews took over the Narcotics Department was dissolved and Lt. Gordon, who Chester County DA Joe Carroll said was an essential part of narcotics investigation, was put on administrative leave. Matthews had plans to lay off at least six Coatesville Police officers and eventually many more would leave, to the point where there was only one City of Coatesville officer on duty in this high crime City at a given time. See Matthew’s letter to DA Joe Carroll below. Officers from all over Chester County were called in to assist. And for the first time in about 5 years the money was good again in Coatesville, the money from drug sales.

The plan began to unravel when Joel Fitzgerald, who was a candidate for Coatesville PD, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that Richard Legree tried to negotiate a position in the Police Department. Law enforcement from all over Pennsylvania came to support officers in Coatesville and to demand that Matthews shape up or go.

I think that the “forensic audit” now being conducted by the FBI and Chester County Detectives is the beginning. There are a lot of trees to fall before this forest is cleared.

We have been living four year long nightmare in the City of Coatesville

This is partly a response to the anti-Paul Janssen people: I was a Coatesville Planning Commissioner. When an alleged death threat did not work; the “Bloc of Four” arranged a different way to remove me from the planning commission. What they might not know is at the planning commission meeting two weeks after the meeting with the alleged death threat District Attorney Joe Carroll waited from before the meeting began until after it was over. If Ernie Campos and/or Richard Legree showed up again he was prepared to charge them with terroristic threats. The alleged threat is in the minutes of the Coatesville Planning Commission meeting May 10, 2006:

According to Ms. Janssen the Janssen family was advised by the FBI not to live in the City of Coatesville. This was because of Janssen’s efforts to remove the drug gangs from the City of Coatesville; the same drug gangs that thrived when Ernie Campos was Coatesville City Council president. Anybody see “the Wire” episode “Amsterdam”? Before Paul Janssen came here there were times when the streets were blocked by drug dealers. It looked like that “Wire” episode.

I wrote this on the “Chester County Cops Blog” DLN on July 29, 2008 4:02 PM Jim Pitcherella said... It was winter time here when I said that this was shaping up to be a violent summer in Coatesville. The response by the Coatesville Administration was a nonchalant smirk. This is one time that I really hate to say, I told you so. The escalation of violence in Coatesville is an inevitable consequence of what I believe is the “dumbing down” of the Coatesville Police Department by the “bloc of four” city council members and their supporters. The Walker Administration made a decision to cut costs to avoid a tax increase or the utilization of Coatesville’s “rainy day fund”. They cut funds across the board by cutting back on staff (administrators salaries were increased). The biggest staff cuts were in the police department. Not only were the number of officers reduced but the police department office staff was nearly eliminated causing patrol officers to fill in for clerical jobs. Our “chief” Mr. Matthews is still not certified as a policeman in Pennsylvania. When Paul Janssen took office as the Coatesville City Manager his first task was to make the streets safe. Mr. Janssen searched for and found a police officer that could tackle the task of policing the streets of Coatesville. When Chief of Police Dominic Bellizzie first saw Coatesville he said that the “streets were an open air drug bazaar”. Janssen and Chief Bellizzie modernized and expanded the Coatesville Police Department. Unfortunately the city was plunged into a series of lawsuits concerning a land acquisition dispute. The 30 plus lawsuits directed against the City of Coatesville that the city was forced to win in court nearly bankrupted the city (The City of Coatesville won every lawsuit; I believe that most should have been thrown out as frivolous). However, Chief Bellizzie’s efforts paid off and by 2005 drug dealers could not risk living inside the city limits of Coatesville. In spite of the drag from the lawsuits the city was on the brink of turning over from the wholesale and retail drug distribution center of Chester County into a normal city. And then came the “bloc of four”. Below is a portion of the resignation letter of former Coatesville Assistant City Manager Tarron Richardson. He refers to the Walker Administration: “Continued association with the cesspool of corruption and misconduct created by the majority of council and its political appointments may subsequently jeopardize my future professional, personal, and political endeavors. Such inappropriate behavior has caused a mass exodus of city personnel, many who carried with them substantial institutional knowledge of the organization." The drug entrepreneurs are well aware that the Coatesville Police Force has been in a state of crisis since the “bloc of four” took office. The real winners in the Municipal Election of 2005 in Coatesville were not the Sahas, they were not the “bloc of four”, developers may be unwelcome by the city administration and certainly the people of Coatesville did not benefit by the election of the “bloc of four”. It might have been unintended but I believe the real winners of the Municipal Election of 2005 were the drug dealers I think that the blame for the violence that we now have here can be placed squarely at the foot of the “bloc of four” and the people that got them elected. As District Attorney Joe Carroll says; “This is an unprecedented level of violence". The summer is still young. The violence could intensify. It is time for the “bloc of four” to do something positive for their city; they can resign from city council. From: http://is.gd/5MrwR

I believe that the setbacks in the Coatesville PD and administrative changes in the Coatesville FD by the “Bloc of Four” and the Walker Administration helped to create a perfect storm for arson in Coatesville:

The Philadelphia Inquirer: "(Coatesville Fire Chief) 'Johnson reported 295 in 2007, while union records show 733. When the union discovered the difference, it complained to city officials, but nothing was done, Poulson said. 'Fire-suppression services are in complete disarray,' Poulson said of Coatesville, adding, 'It's like the perfect storm for an arsonist.". Richard G. Poulson is the attorney for the city's 13 paid part-time firefighters and four full-time firefighters." From "Hiring practices, management of Coatesville Fire Department criticized" -Philadelphia Inquirer

Maybe you should ask all the people in Coatesville that lost their homes to arson in Coatesville if they want Paul Janssen back. Maybe you should ask all the store owners in Coatesville that were repeatedly robbed at gun point if they want Paul Janssen Back. Maybe you should ask all the people that were shot on the streets and in their homes in Coatesville if they want Paul Janssen back. Maybe you should ask the woman that sat on her porch for more than 40 years and now hides behind the bullet resistant barrier of a brick wall if she wants Paul Janssen back. Maybe you should ask the parents of school children that were brutally beaten by gangs if they want Paul Janssen back. Maybe you should ask the people who moved their young family to homes here thinking Coatesville was moving up and instead had to fight off the drug gangs on their street and constantly worry about their house being set fire if they want Paul Janssen back. Maybe you should ask the people whose family members were brutally murdered if they want Paul Janssen back. I don’t really know if the best thing for Coatesville is to have Paul Janssen as City Manager here or not but with the municipal government that the anti-Paul Janssen "Save our Farm" people installed we have been living a nightmare here in Coatesville.

Give a little?

Paul Jansen's Coatesville government was completely opposed to the drug business here. So much so, that the FBI advised him not to move his family into Coatesville.

Coatesville remains as the drug depot for Chester County. I believe that street crime is at a high level because of that.

The high level of street crime is the primary reason that retail stores do not want to locate here. Some retail stores would probably move out if they could.

In Philadelphia drug trafficking and a vibrant downtown can co-exist; Coatesville is too small for that to happen.

If you want real redevelopment you have to go all the way. You can't have a local government that gives a little to the drug traffickers and expect redevelopment. You need a local government that will really go hard against Chester County organized crime and Chester County drug traffickers.

Give the Chester County drug traffickers a little bit and their money and influence will stop anything that gets in their way; such as, redeveloping Coatesville.

Looking through some old news with the benifit of hindsight

Take a look at some of the articles appearing in the Daily Local News in the run up to the elections that put the Kurt Schenk, Patsy Ray, Robin Scott Johnson and Kareem Johnson into office. The “bloc of four” to this day blames the financial position they have the city in now on the previous city council. But did the blame ever lie with the previous council? Viewed in the vision of hindsight it is clear to me just where the blame lies for the financial position the city inherited and still plagues us today. But you make up your own mind.

This excerpt tells a lot about why the previous city council spent millions defending the City of Coatesville:

“No mention is made in the editorial of the fact that for four years our council had to protect the revitalization progress from relentless attack by Pat Sellers and Bob Saucier. Opponents showed up at every council meeting saying that there really was no revitalization planned. Those who attend the meetings remember how all we heard from them was that there really were no investors lined up or that it would never happen.

Would we have the concrete revitalization that we have today if the council had folded on the golf course back in those days? I doubt it since Sellers is on record stating that he opposed the third avenue project, TIF, the river walk and other vital components of the overall plan. No alternative ideas were ever offered in those years, and the Sahas kept coming back to the negotiating table, only to back out later. The council was led to believe that settlement was close many times over the years.

Next the council had to defend the city charter from the proposed amendments starting two years ago. Legal experts agreed that the amendments had to be fought. The creator of these costly amendments, Sellers, had to have known that these amendments would eventually be ruled illegal, but it didn’t matter to him. The point was to cause further delay (and expense), and to take the issue closer to the elections.

The fact that it took years to get a ruling that should have been open and shut was beyond the city’s control and was very costly. Why the delays in the courts?

Once that issue was resolved in the city’s favor, many of us who support the city began to talk about backing away on the Saha land, recognizing that it had become too divisive. Previously supportive council members were telling Paul Janssen of their concern before his surprise resignation.”

From: Don’t forget Coatesville’s triumphs
With regard to the editorial entitled "Coatesville voters must look back but also forward" (DLN, May 12):
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2005/05/18/opinion/14544522.txt

Another article sheds some light on the character of one of the Saha supporters:

“But the primary elections did rouse some of the controversy that has characterized the epic land dispute.

Longtime Saha supporter Robert Saucier, 48, was arrested Tuesday afternoon on charges of disorderly conduct and harassment after leaving the Coatesville Community Center, which serves as the polling station for the fifth ward.

Coatesville police said they had received four calls involving Saucier’s behavior at a different polling location prior to the incident.

According to police, several witnesses saw Saucier threaten 68-year-old Elwood Dixon, a member of the local NAACP, and create a public annoyance at the polling station.

Saucier was issued two summary, non-traffic citations for disorderly conduct and harassment and was released.

Police warned Saucier that if he returned to the polling place and continued to create a disturbance he would face criminal charges.”

From:
Saha shakes up vote
COATESVILLE -- Aftershocks of the city’s six-year eminent domain battle with the Saha family could be felt at polling places throughout the Coatesville area Tuesday.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
By ADAM CIRUCCI

http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2005/05/18/frontpage/14544543.txt


It was obvious to me that the City of Coatesville was forced to spend “six years and boatloads of money”. The city was forced to defend itself for what in my opinion were more than 30 frivolous lawsuits. Why did some of those lawsuits sit for years on a judge’s desk awaiting his decision? If enacted Pat Sellers referendum decision would in my opinion have made the Coatesville City Council unable to enact legislation affecting land use unless it was presented in the form of a referendum. Why was such an obviously unconstitutional referendum allowed to appear on the ballot in the first place?

Would the Daily Local News write this same editorial now with the benefit of hindsight?

Coatesville voters must look back but also forward
Published: Thursday, May 12, 2005

http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2005/05/12/opinion/14512817.txt

I think the big question is was there a motive besides defending the Sahas behind all of the legal motions and intimidation at Coatesville City Council meetings. I think you need to ask that if there never was a property rights issue in Coatesville; would Sellers, Saucier, Campos and Legree have found some other reason to oppose revitalization?

The Center

You can tell when a large package of drugs has come into the City of Coatesville from NYC or Philly; certain places along Lincoln Highway will be packed with people; some of them from the “white” areas of Chester County. Coatesville is the center for drug trafficking in Chester County.

I believe that there are powerbrokers of a “protected class” in Chester County who want it to stay that way. Although another change of government in Coatesville can make a difference, judging from the past it will be a temporary difference. The profits from selling drugs are just too enormous to give up.

A federal prosecutor told me “Coatesville was ready to turn over and then these new guys came in”. He was talking about the “bloc of four”. I believe the federal prosecutors knew that revitalizing Coatesville and bringing new eyes on the street would eventually end the drug traffickers choke hold on Coatesville and shut down most of the trafficking in central and western Chester County.

The popular view is that the revitalization was shut down by the “bloc of four” and the administration they put in place. I think that it is the administration the alleged powerbrokers behind the scenes put in place that shut down revitalization.

As I see it, the problems with the current efforts at “revitalizing” Coatesville are the people who are setting it up. In Coatesville you don’t have to “follow the money”. The people engaged in alleged shady activity have a history and are fairly well known. You just examine who is involved behind the scenes to predict outcomes. Even though we may soon have a new government and administration the old one may have set up things to go in the powerbroker’s favor.

Those “certain places along Lincoln Highway” that I mentioned in the first sentence are in front of buildings that I believe are owned by members of a “protected class” in Chester County. I find it interesting that they go untouched in raids.

Long lived drug trafficking cannot exist without cooperation from public officials. Without cooperative public officials it is ordinary crime and not organized crime. It can be just looking the other way. I believe that the some people in County Government and even parts of the court system are a part of the problem in Coatesville. I think the real hope for Coatesville lies with Eric Holder and the USDoJ.

Read:
Police, Politics, Corruption by Frank McKetta former PA State Police Commissioner

Read the two reviews at Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Police-Politics-Corruption-Colonel-McKetta/product-reviews/0870126113/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

"Judge warns accused gunman"

I think it is good that Judge Davis was unavailable. I think he is too close to the families involved.

"The Daily Local (dailylocal.com), Serving Chester County, PA
Judge warns accused gunman
Hearing in murder-for-hire case to continue in 2 weeks"
Saturday, September 26, 2009

http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2009/09/26/news/srv0000006483527.txt

Some info for anyone involved in politics in the City of Coatesville

Politics can be a noble pursuit. It can also be riddled with nastiness. That nasty part of politics takes a quantum leap in the City of Coatesville, PA. Politics here can be riddled with bullets.

If you are involved in the “War on Drugs”, no matter where you fit in, or what side you are on, it is a world where paranoia is napping with one eye open in somewhere in your mind.

You will find drug users and drug user-sellers anywhere in Chester County. Drug use is a National pandemic disease in the USA and Chester County, PA is infected.

Coatesville is ground zero for drug trafficking in Chester County. Coatesville or a location very near to Coatesville is the depot where most of the drugs used in Chester County usually make their first appearance in Chester County. The large “packages” get opened here and redistributed around the County. The big traffickers are well dug in and have been politically connected for decades.

Some of the same reasons that Bart Blatstein, Carl Chetty and Don Pulver see Coatesville as a natural place for development make it a natural place for drug trafficking. Coatesville is a central hub for several kinds of transportation; easy quick transportation from any large port city in the Middle Atlantic States.

Coatesville is where most of the violence over the extremely large profits in selling illegal drugs is contained. I think that the violence is contained here by design. And that public officials participated in that design.

Bart Blatstein’s, Carl Chetty’s and Don Pulver’s redevelopment plans for Coatesville are incompatible with drug distribution in Coatesville. I believe that some public officials involved and profiting from drug trafficking in Chester County want to make sure that redevelopment does not happen in Coatesville. That is, the redevelopment foreseen by Blatstein, Chetty, Pulver, former City Manager Paul Janssen and the people at the University of Miami.

Beware of politicians that talk about supermarkets, jobs, filling police ranks with long time Coatesville residents, moving more poor and disadvantaged people into Coatesville and the perils of gentrification.

There is room, there is infrastructure already in place in the City of Coatesville for 9,000 new Coatesville residents; 20,000 residents in total. No gentrification with poor people moved out to make room for middle class or upper class residents needs to happen for Coatesville to be redeveloped. A city made up of one type or class of people is a lifeless city. The dream of Bart Blatstein and Paul Janssen was a vibrant cosmopolitan city.

Too many murders here happen right in front of several people who “didn’t see anything”. The drug trafficker/public officials in Chester County are down with more section 8, more slumlords and more poor people moving in here. On the other hand, middle class; white, black or whatever people don’t easily put up with drug traffickers. And, for the most part, the traffickers don’t know the family members of the new residents that have moved into Coatesville and can’t threaten them.

The reign of terror the drug traffickers have over many citizens of Coatesville will be over if we get real redevelopment with additional residents moving in. I mean new residents without the long time family roots that most Coatesville residents have. The USDoJ understands that fact very well. As former Assistant United States Attorney Tom Hogan told me, “Coatesville was ready to turn over, and then these new guys came in”.

It is very hard, maybe impossible, to be involved in politics in the City of Coatesville and stay outside of the “War on Drugs”. If you do not understand that fact or play it down you will be working with blinders and ear plugs on. If you do not understand drug trafficking and how public officials work with it and profit from it you can be used by the traffickers and not know it.

If you do know and do understand the playing field here, paranoia is napping with one eye open in the back of your brain. If you have an automatic response to it you will be eaten up by the paranoia and you not last in Coatesville’s political world. It is a world where trust is earned and you “check out” everyone in a quasi-scientific way.

You have to trust someone. You work with people you trust and you trust them because you thoroughly checked them out. But there is always that paranoia bug that sleeps with one eye open and can wake up with a warning at any moment. It has to be there waiting and watching, because in Coatesville you life could depend in it.

A very
good and easy read primer on Politics and Corruption in Pennsylvania is one written by former Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Frank McKetta:

Police, politics, corruption : the mixture dangerous to freedom and justice / Frank McKetta.
McKetta, Frank.
Camp Hill, Pa. : Polis Publishing, c2000.

It is in all of our libraries.

It’s morning again in the United States Department of Justice

The USDoJ was a tool to use in elections under Bush/Cheney. We lost a lot of good prosecutors and FBI agents; the ones that couldn't stomach the Bush doctrine of politics trumps everything else.

The Civil Rights Division was almost completely shut down by Bush/Cheney. I believe it was shut down because it interfered with Bush/Cheney's alleged election tampering.

In November of 2008 when it was understood that a Democrat would win the Election; the USDoJ and FBI began to ramp up hiring. The FBI and USDoJ in general has been on a hiring binge since then.

I believe that organized crime has had an 8 year frolic under Bush/Cheney. I think that filling all US Attorney slots with Democratic Attorneys and expanding funding for organized crime and white collar investigations should be an intensive priority of the Obama Administration.

Now that the USDoJ it’s intelligence groups and FBI are ramping up into an effective crime fighting organization; I am hoping they will be able to help us here in Chester County.

We are sick of seeing obvious public official/drug dealer activity in Coatesville and in Chester County in general. People are afraid to talk because they know the dealers political associates will let them walk.

Some people here stopped sitting on their porch and sit behind a brick wall that will slow down the bullets. I am tired of it; most Coatesville residents are tired of it. We desperately want the public officials and their drug dealer pals in prison



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/01/obama-admin-planning-to-r_n_273596.html

Obama Admin Planning To Revive High-Impact Civil Rights Enforcement
Charlie Savage | 09/ 1/09 01:40 AM

I believe that Matt Baker’s request for a forensic audit of Coatesville’s government is just one step.

I believe that something much more inclusive than a forensic audit in regards to the City of Coatesville will be announced soon.

The Philadelphia Inquirer
Posted on Sat, Aug. 22, 2009
Coatesville confronts financial woes
By Kathleen Brady Shea
Inquirer Staff Writer
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/54074937.html

Lieutenant Gordon and "Lieutenant Legree"

There is an article about Matt Gordon and his new position in the West Pikeland Police Department. "Ex-Coatesville cop takes on new role in West Pikeland":
http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2009/08/19/news/srv0000006155363.txt

First off let me explain that, I don't think that Richard Legree was directly involved with drug trafficking, let's just say I think he "called some of the shots".

District Attorney Joe Carroll said that Lt. Matt Gordon is one of the most knowledgeable investigators of drug trafficking and the individuals involved in Chester County. I believe that when Walker and Matthews took him out of operation it was a cause for celebration among Chester County drug traffickers.

At the about same time Matthews proposed laying off at least 6 officers, eliminating the Detective Division and Narcotics Division. After the police began leaving the Coatesville PD there was an almost immediate reaction by the local drug traffickers; gunshots were heard here almost every day. I received word that drug dealers from Philly moved into Coatesville. The word was “business is good again in C’ville”.

I believe that plans to eliminate Lieutenant Gordon were in operation well before Matthews started in Coatesville. I think that Richard Legree planned to step into the Coatesville PD as a Lieutenant and considering Gordon's importance in the prosecution of drug trafficking I think it was killing two birds with one stone. I think the plan was; after Legree was a police Lieutenant for some time Matthews would retire and Legree would be Chief of the Coatesville PD. I believe that a plan B was for Legree to run for Coatesville District Court.


This is part of one of the news records concerning the hiring of Matthews:

From the Daily Local News Friday, October 3, 2008:

Police dispute still on 

By JENNIFER MILLER, Staff Writer 

POSTED: 10/03/08, 12:01 AM EDT |

“The motivation behind Matthews' decision to place Gordon on inactive duty becomes murkier when applying information from a Philadelphia police officer who competed with Matthews for the Coatesville chief position.

Following the appointment of Matthews, Philadelphia Lt. Joel Fitzgerald said the city offered him the chief position and the city drafted a contract.

During the interview process, Fitzgerald said City Manager Harry Walker and prominent resident Richard Legree informed him that, as chief, he would need to fire one of the city's two lieutenants. Fitzgerald never identified the lieutenant.

Fitzgerald said that when he made clear he wanted complete control over department staffing, the city passed on Fitzgerald and instead hired Matthews.

The city has denied any wrongdoing.”

The full article is here:
http://www.dailylocal.com/article/DL/20081003/TMP01/310039976 

I think this is not over and we may be hearing much more about it.

Live recordings from the Coatesville City Council February 22, 2007 Two hundred police officers and police officials attended that meeting.

“I need Matt Gordon back” DA Joe Carroll

Joe was responding to Coatesville City Councilperson Kurt Schenk. Joe Carroll is a very easy going person. Joe’s hands were shaking as he said this. I have never before or since seen Chester County Joe Carroll as angry as he was that evening.

Ed Simpson going head to head with Harry Walker at the Coatesville City Council meeting
Ed Simpson, “People are getting hurt in this community and it’s because we don’t have enough police officers and it’s time for it to stop. Harry Walker’s response was, “we had no intention to let police go in the City of Coatesville, it was said publicly it was said privately it was said thorough the Daily Local there are no plans to let police go in the City of Coatesville.
16 minutes 47 seconds
Listen here:

I believe Walker was lying.
There is proof in writing in a letter from Chief Matthews to District Attorney Joe Carroll dated May 18, 2007 William H Matthews Chief of Police City of Coatesville, ”I have been told that personnel reductions in the police department must be made. I am confident that the City Council is aware of this situation…Because of the lay-off we will lose six (6) patrol officers.”

This is what Joe Carroll reacted to; Kurt Scheck:

“Mr. Matthews, if nobody elsein this room supports you I will support you…Our department before you came here was a mess…For too long the old boy network has been going on here… soon as you were hired I can’t tell me how many people come up to me and said, your police department is not going to work for a black chief… well our City is 70% black and if they are not willing to work for a black chief then they need to go someplace else; because they’re working in the wrong community. They need go someplace else.”

4 minutes, 6 seconds
Listen here:

"Coatesville adds 5 recruits to its police force"

If Richard Legree Sr. was still alive we might still have Matthews as chief and Richard “Stretch” Legree could have been running for District Magistrate Judge in Coatesville. I would say that could be a winning combination if you were into drug trafficking.

"Coatesville adds 5 recruits to its police force"

http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2009/08/11/news/srv0000006088279.txt

It’s “Little Sicily” time again in Coatesville.

Ninety people, that "didn’t see a thing". Just like in Palermo.

"COATESVILLE — A 32-year-old man was shot repeatedly early Sunday morning inside the Elks Lodge in the 600 block of Merchant Street, police said."

http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2009/08/11/news/srv0000006085137.txt

"The Wire"

Just imagining if some Chester County judges are changing their phone sim cards; like on “The Wire”. Amazing what a little heat from a Democratic USAG can do.

Attorney General raids on Chesnut St and Merchant St

City police, state AG's office team up for raids
Published: Friday, July 31, 2009

I can think of several properties on Lincoln Hwy. But maybe they are “people of a protected class”. Coatesville PD might need the FBI for those properties.

http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2009/07/31/news/doc4a72ca9d92077308551544.txt

Commonwealth Warns City of Coatesville Administration in letter

I agree with City Councilperson Ed Simpson’s statements in this article.

I would go a further my criticism of Lehr and Walker. I believe the potential for criminal activity exists. But that is up to the USDoJ to ferret out.

State criticizes Coatesville in letter
Pennsylvania official outlines 11 of the city's problems as well as offering recommendations to move municipality forward
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
By JENNIFER MILLER, Staff Writer

http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2009/07/29/news/srv0000005966001.txt


A more clear copy of the letter is here:
http://www.box.net/shared/mh2q6tjhel



See Matt Baker's blog for more information:
http://bakerforcoatesville.com/matts-blog/

“Seven Charged with Terrorism Violations in North Carolina

I did not know that regular Nazi/Skinhead White Supremacist rallies were held at a farm near Macungie, PA about 5 miles from my house until several years after I left there. Now I know how to identify those white supremacists and their characteristics and techniques. There seem to be a good amount of them near to Coatesville, in Chester County, Lancaster County, Berks County, Northern Montgomery County and just over the Maryland border.

Pennsylvania is a hot spot for White Supremacist organizations partly because of it’s central geographic location. So we are probably always going to have some of them here. And now they are on a growth streak.

I believe the primary terrorist threat in the USA comes from home grown white supremacist and militia groups. That is what makes the recent growth of those organizations and mainstreaming of some elements of those organizations into the media and Republican Party so threatening.

The Nazi/Skinhead right wing extremist types have been emulating tactics and allegedly conspiring with jihadists overseas for years. They have a shared anti-Semitism

“Seven Charged with Terrorism Violations in North Carolina
RALEIGH, NC—Seven individuals have been charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and conspiring to murder, kidnap, maim, and injure persons abroad, David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division; George E.B. Holding, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina; and Owen D. Harris, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Charlotte Field Division, announced today.
On Wednesday, July 22, 2009, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina returned a sealed seven-count indictment against the following defendants:
• Daniel Patrick Boyd, 39, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
• Hysen Sherifi, 24, a native of Kosovo and a U.S. legal permanent resident located in North Carolina
• Anes Subasic, 33, a naturalized U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
• Zakariya Boyd, 20, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
• Dylan Boyd, 22, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
• Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, 22, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
• Ziyad Yaghi, 21, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina”
http://charlotte.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/2009/ce072709.htm

Richard Legree

I believe the real reason that led to Richard Legree Sr. leaving the Republican Party for the Democratic Party was that the Republican Party would not permit him to run for District Justice. They had someone else in mind. If not for that he might have died a Republican.

Richard had several jobs. He was a State Constable in Coatesville’s 3rd Ward. He was employed by the Laborers’-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust as an administrator. The Labor Union job took Richard all over the USA.

I didn’t like everything he did but like many others I enjoyed being around him. I think Richard Legree was a congenial person, that he had excellent salesmanship abilities. I believe that Richard had extremely good managerial abilities. They may not ever have been a more “connected” person than Richard Legree. I don’t believe that everything he did was legal. He had an alleged “retail” business and I believe that one key to solving some of our unsolved murders died with Richard Legree.

During the time that former Chief Matthews was Chief of Police in Coatesville I frequently saw Richard in conversation with City Manager Harry Walker. I believe that Richard Legree exerted what leverage he could over the Coatesville Police Department while Matthews was Chief.

You might ask why I am writing about a dead man. It is not so much because of Richard Legree’s official jobs but because of his alleged extra curricular activities. I believe that people have stepped up to fill in for some of Legree’s alleged extra curricular activities. I think there is a very strong possibility that they will “get caught”. I do not think they have the abilities of Richard Legree. I think he was an extraordinary man.

See, Constable Legree Sr. dies
A controversial figure in Coatesville political circles, he served as city councilman and Valley police officer
Monday, December 22, 2008 6:37 AM EST
Daily Local News
http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2008/12/22/news/srv0000004329654.prt

MASSIVE CORRUPTION BUST

Mayors, Rabbis, Politicians, and More
http://www.fbi.gov/page2/july09/corruption_072409.html


When are they coming to Coatesville?

The way Coatesville politics works

Organized Crime as defined by the FBI:

“Organized Crime
The FBI defines organized crime as any group having some manner of a formalized structure and whose primary objective is to obtain money through illegal activities. Such groups maintain their position through the use of actual or threatened violence, corrupt public officials, graft, or extortion, and generally have a significant impact on the people in their locales, region, or the country as a whole.”
From: http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/orgcrime/glossary.htm

Long established drug trafficking “businesses” simply cannot exist without cooperative and corrupt public officials.

I believe that there are two basic groups of politicians in the City of Coatesville and nearby:

1. Those that are working against the drug trafficking, culture and economy

2. Those that “go along” with the drug trafficking, culture and economy

Please note that the public officials themselves may not be aware that some of their backers are “going along” with the drug trafficking economy in Coatesville.

Drug trafficking is big business in Coatesville. I believe that when Coatesville was crawling with undercover ATF officers looking for arsonists the drug business in Coatesville nearly dried up. Some of the businesses used by Coatesville residents had a downturn in business and people had some trouble paying bills. It was not just bad press. Bad press does not keep anyone from paying bills.

He was not the easiest person to get along with but the cornerstone of Paul Janssen’s plans for the growth of Coatesville was to make the streets safe and drive out the drug dealers. When Janssen began working here his opposition to the then prevailing stranglehold that drug traffickers held over Coatesville was the reason that the FBI told the Janssen family not to live within the Coatesville City limits.

Coatesville’s former administration was approaching that goal of making the streets safe and did make it nearly impossible for a drug dealer to live within the city limits without being picked up by Coatesville Police. They could not even come into Coatesville to visit a girfriend without risking arrest.

I believe that the people who back politicians that “go along” with the drug trafficking finally got back into control and as a US Attorney involved in prosecuting drug traffickers in Chester County said to me: “Coatesville was ready to turn over and then these new guys came in”. Within a few months the dealers came back in a very big and violent way.

In addition to intimidation, threats of violence and payoffs; I believe that it’s Coatesville’s “politics” that keeps Coatesville’s biggest business enterprise going on Friday and Saturday nights.

If you want to be in politics in Coatesville the easiest route is to close your eyes and ears and just go with the flow. The money and political machine is there for you if you do.

Some people are so deep in the community trees in Coatesville that they don't see how the forrest works. Or maybe they think they can give in a little to the powers that be and still make Coatesville a good place to live.

Organized crime doesn't work that way. Greed is the highest value in organized crime systems and trumps life itself. .The people that take the easy go along with the flow way will eventually be brought down or burned some way by organized crime. There is no middle road.

Just a careful reading of news reports can tell you a lot about who goes along and who does not.

There are two political entities in Coatesville; hint it’s not Democrats and Republicans

The two basic political entities are those who are go along with the drug traffickers and those who are working against the drug traffickers. It does not matter whether they are Democrats or Republicans; the big differences in politicians here is whether they go along with the drug scene or not. One caveat to keep in mind is that there are many naïves who do not understand how things work here.

There is a separate underground economy that operates on trickle down money from drug trafficking in Coatesville. When the undercover ATF and DEA people were here because of the arson, much of the drug trafficking stopped. The legitimate local business here suffered; some people did not have the cash to their pay bills.

There is no long standing drug trafficking business anywhere that does not have support from public officials. Read; Police Politics Corruption “The mixture dangerous to freedom and justice” by Colonel Frank McKetta Retired Pennsylvania State Police.

On the surface Coatesville seems like an ordinary Pennsylvania town. But a drive down any main street on a Friday or Saturday night will tell you that this is a huge drug trafficking town. It is a beautiful town with great potential and wonderful people but one that is held hostage by long time drug traffickers with political connections. I call it “Little Sicily”.

If a shooting occurs in front of several people in Coatesville right now; chances are “nobody saw it”. Much of the tips that law enforcement does get in Coatesville comes from new residents. Coatesville is a city of about 12,000 residents with the infrastructure for 20,000 residents. New residents without long time family connections in Coatesville cannot be easily intimidated by drug traffickers. The USDoJ is well aware that a redevelopment of Coatesville that brings in new people may be the end of the drug trafficking and the terror hold that it has over Coatesville. The drug traffickers are also aware of that fact.

Election of people not connected to the drug trafficking political establishment here will help but what I think Coatesville and Chester County really needs is a full investigation of the city by the USDoJ. Until that happens we will continue to see articles like this one in the Daily Local News:

The Daily Local (dailylocal.com), Serving Chester County, PA
'How do you sleep at night?'
Along with most other older Daily Local articles this one is difficult to find. But the same article appears in the DelCo Times:

One year last, double-slayings in Chesco continues to haunt families, police

Monday, July 6, 2009
By JENNIFER MILLER
One year ago, two Chester County families were destroyed and a community was sent into a state of shock.